Jesse never should have listened to George. Now he was sitting on his unmade bed in the dark staring at the floor. It wasn’t the floor he was seeing. It was shattered glass, trash and discarded cd cases. It was the look on George’s frightened face as lights flashed on, and the pounding in his ears as they gasped for breath running for their lives through the freezing cold of the streets.

The scene replayed in his head, the confusing events of the night occurring at random, all of buoyed by guilt . All his efforts to change his older brother’s mind sounded weak in his memories. George was the leader as he always was and each time, Jesse let himself get swept up in the relentless wave of enthusiasm. He knew it was his need to be included- to be part of the family.

Christmas was going to suck if he spent all of December thinking about the events of last night. He had to do something.

He found himself standing, stolen wallet and iphone in hand. A decision had been made but his mind was slow in recognizing it.